This week campaigners and officials from over 60 countries around the world are meeting in London for the Open Government Partnership Summit to discuss how to make governments more open. A major focus will be how to make official information available and accessible for all.

At the Open Knowledge Foundation we believe that the ability to access and reuse digital information is an increasingly important part of democracy in the 21st century.

What role might better access to information play in democratising the EU?

The institutions, agencies and bodies of the European Union collect and hold all kinds of information about Europe – about everything from unemployment, crime, and quality of life to how EU funds are disbursed, who is lobbying, and progress on cutting carbon pollution.

Much of this information is essential to understanding the composition and functioning of the EU and its 28 member states, and necessary for evidence based advocacy, reportage and policy formation.

The European Union Open Data Portal is a laudable first step in giving European citizens, civil society organisations and the media access to this information in a single place, with an explicit green light to share and reuse it.

What now? There are two things that we’d like to see happening next.

Firstly we’d like to see more citizens, journalists and civil society groups engaging with the EU about what kinds of data they’d like to see released next, and ideas for how to improve the quality of the data that is currently available via the portal. There might be some requests that are very ambitious – such as information that would require new legislation or policy measures to collect. Other requests that might be relatively straightforward – such as releasing information which can easily be made available, but simply has not been published yet. In both cases, we’d like to see an ongoing conversation between EU institutions and European citizens that will help to inform priorities for release. If you have datasets you’d like to see released or improved, please let us know via the public EU Open Data mailing list. You can also use the suggest a dataset form on the European Union Open Data Portal to contact the EU open data team directly.

Secondly we’d like to see more people using EU data to improve public understanding, transparency and accountability of European institutions and processes. If you know of interesting journalistic, campaigning or educational projects which use EU data to improve awareness or provide context around an issue, we’d love to hear about them. Or if you have ideas about projects that you think would help citizens understand and engage with the EU – let us know. You can contact us via Twitter (on @OKFN) or via this online submission form.

We want to see European data being used to support greater participation, public understanding and openness around EU institutions and processes. If you share this hope, please let us and the EU open data team know about what information you think needs to be released next and how it should be put to work.

We want civil society organisations, journalists and citizens around the world to be able to use information about lobbying to understand and report on the influence of big money on politics and to push for reforms in this area.

To this end we’d like to connect and support campaigners working to improve lobbying transparency around the world so that they can:

Learn about what each other are doing – including sharing updates and asking for advice about ongoing policy and advocacy work

Coordinate advocacy around lobbyist registers – to push for better lobbyist registries, and to ensure that they are published as machine readable open data, as per the Open Data Charter

Collaborate around shared areas of interest – from campaigns to mapping activities to tracking lobbying across borders

We’ll both be raising the importance of lobbying transparency in discussions and sessions around the Open Government Partnership Summit in London later this week. The Sunlight Foundation will also soon be releasing guidance on lobbying disclosure, based on their experience in the US and their in-depth research into global lobbying regulations.

If you’re working on lobbying transparency or interested in seeing what you can do in your country then please do come and join us on the lobbying-transparency group and introduce yourself.

The Open Knowledge Foundation is involved with a number of events at and around the Open Government Partnership Summit this week. If you’re coming to the summit or any of the events around it, here is where you can find us.

Tuesday 29th October

We’re having an informal Open Data Meetup at the Centre for Creative Collaboration on Tuesday night from 19:00-21:30. If you’re around come and join us for lightning talks, drinks and more!

Wednesday 30th October

On Wednesday we’re helping to run the Open Government Partnership Civil Society Day, before the main summit kicks off. We’re coordinating the unconference and will be involved in sessions on proactive transparency, privacy and more.

Our ‘Follow the Money’ network (15:45-16:45) – where participants will share their experiences of following the money in different countries around the world, and discuss next steps for our Follow the Money network.

Friday 1st November

At the OGP Festival, you’ll still be able to find us at our Open Knowledge Foundation information stands, as well as at an igloo session on the OpenSpending project (13:00-14:00).

At the OGP Summit, you can come and join us at sessions on:

Joined Up Data (14:00-15:15) – where Lucy Chambers will be presenting findings from a report we’ve been doing on data standards and connecting financial information from different sources.

In the week of a major international summit on government transparency in London, the Open Knowledge Foundation has published its 2013 Open Data Index, showing that governments are still not providing enough information in an accessible form to their citizens and businesses.

The UK and US top the 2013 Index, which is a result of community-based surveys in 70 countries. They are followed by Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands. Of the countries assessed, Cyprus, St Kitts & Nevis, the British Virgin Islands, Kenya and Burkina Faso ranked lowest. There are many countries where the governments are less open but that were not assessed because of lack of openness or a sufficiently engaged civil society. This includes 30 countries who are members of the Open Government Partnership.

The Index ranks countries based on the availability and accessibility of information in ten key areas, including government spending, election results, transport timetables, and pollution levels, and reveals that whilst some good progress is being made, much remains to be done.

Rufus Pollock, Founder and CEO of the Open Knowledge Foundation said:

Opening up government data drives democracy, accountability and innovation. It enables citizens to know and exercise their rights, and it brings benefits across society: from transport, to education and health. There has been a welcome increase in support for open data from governments in the last few years, but this Index reveals that too much valuable information is still unavailable.

The UK and US are leaders on open government data but even they have room for improvement: the US for example does not provide a single consolidated and open register of corporations, while the UK Electoral Commission lets down the UK’s good overall performance by not allowing open reuse of UK election data.

There is a very disappointing degree of openness of company registers across the board: only 5 out of the 20 leading countries have even basic information available via a truly open licence, and only 10 allow any form of bulk download. This information is critical for range of reasons – including tackling tax evasion and other forms of financial crime and corruption.

Less than half of the key datasets in the top 20 countries are available to re-use as open data, showing that even the leading countries do not fully understand the importance of citizens and businesses being able to legally and technically use, reuse and redistribute data. This enables them to build and share commercial and non-commercial services.

Pollock:

For the true benefits of open data to be realised, governments must do more than simply put a few spreadsheets online. The information should be easily found and understood, and should be able to be freely used, reused and shared by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose.

The Open Data Index is a community-based effort initiated and coordinated by the Open Knowledge Foundation. The Index is compiled using contributions from civil society members and open data practitioners around the world, which are then peer-reviewed and checked by expert open data editors. The Index provides an independent assessment of openness in the following areas: transport timetables; government budget; government spending; election results; company registers; national map; national statistics; legislation; postcodes / ZIP codes; emissions of pollutants.

Open Data is information which can be freely used, reused and shared by anyone, anywhere, for any purpose. Truly open data demands a range of both technical and legal qualities which ensure that anyone can reuse it freely, for maximum benefit, and the Open Data Index assesses all of these. The Open Definition sets out the principles which define “openness” in relation to data and content: opendefinition.org

The Open Knowledge Foundation is an international non-profit working to open up information around the world so it can be used to empower citizens and organizations to build fair and sustainable societies. See: okfn.org

The annual summit for the Open Government Partnership will take place in London on 31st October to 1st November. More details at: opengovpartnership.org

The Global Open Data Initiative partners, including the Open Knowledge Foundation, are excited today to share a draft Declaration on Open Data, and would welcome comments and feedback on its contents.

Open Data has enormous unfulfilled promise to change how governments work and to empower citizenship. Even as more governments and issue experts discover new potential in the public release of data, civil society groups still need clear guidelines and mechanisms for cooperation. Global Open Data Initiative hopes to help provide both, and we hope this draft declaration will help us fill that gap.

By building on existing efforts to gather guidelines and best practices, and by building a clear, joint voice made up of outside groups, Global Open Data Initiative hopes to provide a CSO-led vision for how open data should work.

Please give us your feedback

While we’re excited about the start we have, we want to hear from others too. Does this draft adequately describe open data’s promise, and the challenges we face in fulfilling it? Are there other issues it should cover? Are there additional standards, initiatives, or guidelines to which we should refer to (if even in an extended notes section)?

Click here to go to the Declaration on Open Data

Please read the declaration by following the link above and add your thoughts in a comment. For more in depth conversation, please join our discussion list.

The Open Government Partnership Summit is the primary forum for the global community of openness reformers from all backgrounds – government, civil society and private sector – to come together and engage with each other. We’ve been helping organise the OGP Civil Society Day – the day before the Summit – which will provide an informal opportunity for over 400 civil society actors that are involved in OGP to connect, interact, learn and strategize.

If you’re coming along, make sure to join us at the Unconference, which we will be running all day in parallel with the main sessions.

What? The Open Government Partnership Civil Society Day and Unconference

What will we be talking about?

The objective of the day is that the OGP civil society community is energized, broadened, connected and, overall, is prepared for both the OGP Summit and for engaging with the OGP process in their own countries. The day will address these themes:

Broaden: why and how to broaden the actors, issues and countries involved in OGPDeepen: how to deepen the partnerships, push the level of ambition and create better plansConnect: network with people working in different countries and on different issues, but facing similar realitiesInspire: hear inspiring stories from across the globe and explore new open government frontiers

Unconference

Create your own agenda! Is there a discussion that needs to happen? Do you want to ask questions, present finding for feedback or write up best practices or principles? We will be holding ‘Unconference’ sessions alongside the main agenda for the whole day.

Propose a 30 minutes session on the day or sign up to do a 5 minute talk on your project, organisation or cause in one of the two ‘lightning talk’ sessions. Get in touch if you have an idea for this now.

More info

The OGP Civil Society Day is organised by the OGP, the OGP Civil Society Coordination Team, the Open Knowledge Foundation and Involve. Specific sessions are prepared by Access Info Europe, Alianza Regional, OpenCorporates, Open Rights Group, Publish What You Pay, World Resource Institute and the Transparency & Accountability Initiative.

This isn’t just about the UK. The UK has an opportunity to take leadership in a number of key areas – such as beneficial ownership and financial transparency – which will affect developments in many other countries around the world.

Our letter is reproduced in full below.

An open letter to the Prime Minister on the UK’s open government commitments

The end of October is a critical moment for open government in the UK and beyond. The UK will publish its second open government National Action Plan, host the Open Government Partnership Annual Summit, and hand over the baton of chairing the OGP. We hope that the Government will mark this important occasion by announcing a series of ambitious commitments towards greater openness, building on the leadership shown at the G8 Summit.

We welcome the emphasis that you have placed on the principles of open government both domestically and internationally and your ambition of becoming ‘the most open and transparent government in the world’. The true strength of your Government’s efforts will ultimately be judged by the level of new ambition in the commitments made and delivered through the action plan launched on 31 October at the Summit in London.

For the UK Plan, while progress has been made in finding common ground on a number of important issues, we are concerned by the absence of any truly ambitious new commitments. With three weeks to go, we call on you to take a lead in delivering such commitments:

Make public who owns and controls companies and trusts, by publishing a beneficial ownership register that meets the standards set out in the Open Data Charter. A public register would support good corporate governance and a clean and respected business environment, as well as lift the veil of secrecy that the corrupt and the criminal use to hide their identity.

Enable public scrutiny of all organisations in receipt of public money, by opening up public sector contracts and extending transparency standards and legislation. Endorse and implement a system of ‘Open Contracting’, ensuring public disclosure and monitoring of contracting from procurement to the close of projects, and amend the Freedom of Information Act so that all information held by a contractor in connection with a public service contract is brought within its scope.

Bring lobbying out into the open in the UK, by developing a robust, compulsory register of lobbyists. An open and comprehensive register would allow public scrutiny of who is lobbying whom, what they are seeking to influence and how much is being spent in the process.

Ambitious commitments such as these will not only send a clear message about the UK’s commitment to open government at home, but will lead by example and demonstrate the level of ambition expected of other countries as they draft their own national action plans.

The Global Open Data Initiative is a coalition of civil society organisations working together in the area of open government data and open government.

Our basic goal is that citizens will have full and open access to the government data that is needed in order to build effective government and governance.

The Global Open Data Initiative will serve as a guiding voice internationally on open data issues. Civil society groups who focus on open data have often been isolated to single national contexts, despite the similar challenges and opportunities repeating themselves in countries across the globe. The Global Open Data Initiative aims to help share valuable resources, guidance and judgment, and to clarify the potential for government open data across the world.

Provide a leading vision for how governments approach open data. Open data commitments are among the most popular commitments for countries participating in the Open Government Partnership. The Global Open Data Initiative recommendations and resources will help guide open data initiatives and others as they seek to design and implement strong, effective open data initiatives and policies. Global Open Data Initiative resources will also help civil society actors who will be evaluating government initiatives.

Increase awareness of open data. Global Open Data Initiative will work to advance the understanding of open data issues, challenges, and resources by promoting best practices, engaging in online and offline dialogue, and supporting networking between organizations both new and familiar to the open data arena.

Support the development of the global open data community especially in civil society. Civil society organizations (CSOs) have a key role to play as suppliers, intermediaries, and users of open data, though at present, relatively few organizations are engaging with open data and the opportunities it presents. Most CSOs lack the awareness, skills and support needed to be active users and providers of open data in ways that can help them meet their goals. The Global Open Data Initiative aims to help CSOs, to engage with and use open data whether whatever area they work on – be it climate change, democratic rights, land governance or financial reform.

Our immediate focus is on two activities:

To consult with members of the CSO community around the world about what they think is important in this area

Develop a set of principles in collaboration with the CSO community to guide open government data policies and approaches and to help initiate, strengthen and further elevate conversations between governments and civil society.

Watch this space for further updates.

Join the conversation

To get involved join the Global Open Data Initiative discussion group:

Participants in the session shared their experience of trying to follow the money – the challenges and opportunities – and explored how we might collectively join the dots between various efforts to promote transparency. We talked about creating better data standards so information is easier to connect and compare, sharing resources and information about the flow of public money, and how to ensure that transparency initiatives meet the needs of campaigners pushing for change.

The top two priorities identified were as follows. First, mapping the ‘Follow the Money’ space to get a better sense of who is doing what to follow flows of public money from revenue to results, across different sectors and in different countries around the world. Second, doing much more to understand what citizens and civil society organisations need to help them to follow the money and collecting use-cases of how joining the transparency dots will help.

We’re currently planning ‘Follow the Money’ activities around the Open Government Partnership Summit in London on 31st October to 1st November, where we will continue the conversation – in particular focusing on the needs of campaigners in developing countries.